Category: nuclear

In a new article in International Security, Fiona Cunningham and I examine whether China will abandon its long-standing nuclear strategy of assured retaliation for a first-use posture. We reach three conclusions: Chinese analysts worry that advances in U.S. strategic capabilities could undermine China's ability to retaliate against a U.S. nuclear attack. China is unlikely to increase [...]

In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, nuclear expert James Actonsuggests that China may be changing its nuclear doctrine. The principal basis for his argument is the absence of a specific repetition of China’s “no first-use” policy in the latest edition of Beijing’s bi-annual white paper on defense. Acton, however, misreads the recent white paper and draws the [...]

This past year, I joined a working group sponsored by the Project on Nuclear Initiatives at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. We were tasked with thinking about the role of nuclear weapons in U.S.-China relations in the coming two decades. The working group's report explored the challenges posed by China's continued force modernization [...]